Electrical meter assembly having displaced meter and socket terminals

Abstract

An electrical meter assembly including a plug-in meter and a meter socket, each having terminals. An adaptor modifies a terminal of the meter socket, enabling the modified and unmodified terminals thereof to engage the terminals of the meter in only one orientation of the meter relative to the meter socket.

I claim as my invention: 
     
       1. An electric meter assembly, comprising: a meter socket including plural line and load terminals disposed on symmetrical terminal axes thereof such that said load terminals are aligned with said line terminals along common symmetrical axes which are parallel;   a meter including plural terminals for plug-in attachment to said meter socket terminals, said meter terminals being disposed relative to symmetrical terminal axes thereof such that one of the meter terminals is offset from one of the meter terminal axes, and said meter terminal axes being alignable with the socket terminal axes so that the one meter terminal is offset from one of the socket terminals when said meter is positioned for mounting in said meter socket; and   an electrically conductive terminal adaptor including a first portion attachable to said one socket terminal wherein said first portion has a blocking part for preventing insertion of a meter terminal into said one socket terminal, and said adaptor further including a second portion defining an auxiliary socket terminal being offset from said one socket terminal so that said one socket terminal is modified for mounting said meter in said meter socket in only one predetermined orientation.   
     
     
       2. The electric meter assembly of claim 1 wherein the one modified terminal of the meter socket is a load terminal. 
     
     
       3. The electric meter assembly of claim 1 wherein the terminals of the meter are unsymmetrically arranged with the offset terminal being laterally displaced from the one terminal axis, and the adaptor includes the auxiliary terminal displaced laterally from the one modified terminal to duplicate the unsymmetrical arrangement of the terminals of the meter. 
     
     
       4. The electric meter assembly of claim 1 wherein the one modified terminal is a jaw terminal, and the adaptor further includes a self-locking portion insertable into the jaw terminal, said self-locking portion cooperating with the jaw terminal to prevent removal of the adaptor from the jaw terminal. 
     
     
       5. The electric meter assembly of claim 4 wherein the self-locking portion includes locking tabs which prevent removal of the adaptor by axial force. 
     
     
       6. The electric meter assembly of claim 5 wherein the adapter includes side guards which block access to the locking tabs.